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NERO1
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Joined: 3/8/2008
Msg: 101 | |
| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 4/19/2008 8:36:42 AM | QUOTE: Nietzsche is one of the most important philosophers of the modern age. While most philosophers are content to try and place themselves within, and at, the service of the dominant power structures of their time… a few rare thinkers place themselves 'outside' of the currents of common opinion, and try to think through to new and fresh thoughts; and Nietzsche was one of those few rare thinkers.
To the best of my knowledge, Nietzsche was never an Aryan supremacist in any way, shape, or form: indeed, he referred in print to his fellow countrymen as "blond apes". However, his sister took control of his life's work upon his death - all of his notes and writings - and she at one point was involved in setting up a 'pure Aryan colony' in South America (and this, in the 1800's). So, any tinges of what would later be recognized as Nazism that crept into his writings are generally seen to be a product of her heavy-handed editing, and to have been introduced AFTER his death.
Above all else, Nietzsche was an observer and a commentator - a fact that most people seem to miss. He wasn't trying to dictate how he thought the world should be - he was describing how he saw what was in front of him. For instance, it is quite common to hear people take offense to "Nietzsche's claim that god is dead". Well, Nietzsche didn't say that... what he said was, that man had killed god. By this he meant that, whereas from time immemorial it had been generally assumed that there were objective morals and ethics against which humans needed to measure and value their actions... by his time, this was no longer so. It had, by the mid 1800's, become apparent that such values, morals, and ethics were NOT objective but were really a legislative prerogative of (wo)man. The problem which Nietzsche pointed out was that the loss of 'objective morality' had not yet been superseded by a generalized tendency of people to take responsibility for these matters themselves: the 'destruction' of "objective" values had not yet been followed by a creation of individual and communal values; and this situation he described as 'nihilism'.
The 'superman' that he described was not an evolutionary advance, as Nazi propaganda would have liked to see believed: rather, it was just a (wo)man who had superseded the nihilism which had followed 'the destruction of objective value'; and, who was thus capable of taking responsibility for creating their own values and ethics. If you look at, for instance, how widespread the environmental movement has become today then you will see a good example of what Nietzsche was saying would be necessary: for people to take responsibility over their own actions, and for the effects that those actions have upon this world. Similarly, anti-war protestors could be seen as very Nietzschean, in that they do not follow what they have been told to believe but think for themselves about what they ethically should be doing.
Nietzsche’s principle of “the eternal return” was not some type of religious cosmology: it was a guide for action, advanced in the face of nihilism. Here, Nietzsche simply asked: what is it that makes your life joyful? What do you include in your life, by your own choice? Of the things in your life which you control the occurrence of, can you say of them: I would have them happen over and over, again and again, forever? If not, then, you are not taking responsibility for your own life. So, the ‘eternal recurrence’ which Nietzsche spoke of was above all else a ‘personal sorting mechanism’ through which individuals could realize what it is that is most important to them in the joyfulness of their own lives.
Far from being ‘dark’ and ‘bitter’ and ‘hateful’, Nietzsche was encouraging people to have the strength and the awareness and the honesty to make for themselves workable systems: of ethical and moral responsibility, and of action. Ironically, although many religious viewpoints would have us all believe the opposite of Nietzsche, we are all - in fact even now - becoming just exactly the people whom he foresaw ‘overcoming’ human nature as it was commonly perceived to be in his time.
It has to be so: the alternative is a nihilism so deep that nothing will escape it to survive into any sort of human future.
^^^^ Older post, 9/30/07, Msg23, "TaiChiJohn", probably one of the best posts I've read recently on the 'Net anywhere. Certainly here in these forums. I agree so much in fact I've just re-posted it above so it can be re-read.  | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 4/19/2008 12:45:31 PM | "The 'superman' that he described was not an evolutionary advance, as Nazi propaganda would have liked to see believed: rather, it was just a (wo)man who had superseded the nihilism which had followed 'the destruction of objective value'; and, who was thus capable of taking responsibility for creating their own values and ethics. If you look at, for instance, how widespread the environmental movement has become today then you will see a good example of what Nietzsche was saying would be necessary: for people to take responsibility over their own actions, and for the effects that those actions have upon this world. Similarly, anti-war protestors could be seen as very Nietzschean, in that they do not follow what they have been told to believe but think for themselves about what they ethically should be doing."
I'm sorry but that is just not accurate. The notion of life as 'process' and all being as becoming (central Nietzschean notions) precludes that interpretation of the ubermensch. I have described the manner in which that notion might be interpreted in earlier posts. | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 6/26/2008 2:29:05 AM | 'dominance of a master race'
Nietzsche meant that man has evolved in nature by the weak being eliminated so that people are strong and healthy to meet the challenges that life brings us. This is the natural evolution of all creatures. So he is right. There is no dispute on this because we would not be here now to dispute this if our ancestors could not feed or defend themselves.
He also thinks that man should follow natures path and continue to fight and leave the strongest and most intelligent to survive. He also say's Religion was started by the poor and weak to make it sinful to be rich and powerful. Thereby overthrowing the strong and leading to democracy, the rule of the poor and destitute. | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 6/26/2008 3:06:26 AM |
Nietzsche meant that man has evolved in nature by the weak being eliminated so that people are strong and healthy to meet the challenges that life brings us. This is the natural evolution of all creatures.
Have you read Nietzsche? That is not what he argues AT ALL. That is a dreadful, dreadful misreading of one of the most important thinkers of the last 500 years! | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 10/24/2009 12:53:25 PM | | Who's Nietzsche ? Oh,I guess he's some German philospher guy. Well, he seems to be stuck on the idea of a personal God. One who you can pray to and get answers from. This seemed false ot Einstein who did not believe in a personal God. I agree with Einstein. | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 10/30/2009 1:46:07 AM | | Nietzsche...hmmm. I think his alleged anti-semitism and racism had more to do with his association with Wagner (guilt by association), and the fact that his sister had plenty to do with obfuscating his true character by associating him with the Nazi movement. Will to Power and Uber Mensch had nothing to do with racial supremacy; those ideas were about the man who was the most creative, intelligent, and the most driven to not only survive, but to control, regardless of his ethinc, racial, or national origin. I dont agree with everything he said, but Nietzsche was a brilliant thinker who pissed against the wind of fellow philosophers who at least in the beginning failed to comprehend his genius. I can fully respect a man who composed his greatest achievements during the last 12, painful, sick, decrepit years of his life. "That which does not kill me makes me stronger" | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 10/30/2009 1:53:07 AM | | What I enjoy most about Nietzsche is the passion of his writing. It is no coincidence that of all the philosophers in the Western tradition, Nietzsche was the one that used the most exclamation points. | |
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| Regarding Nietzsche - what is your opinion of him?
Posted: 10/30/2009 7:11:48 PM | | I can't recall reading anywhere in his works where he says explicitly... There is no such thing as God... instead he does talk of a God... people need to interpret the statement 'God is dead' in it's true context... On the lighter side... being a carpenter, this quote of his has always stuck with me 'It's the same old thing when you build a house... you notice that you've learned something!'... some good words to live by. : ) | |
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